The Logan Brothers

Chapter 12 - My Sort-of-But-Not-Really First Date (Part 1)

Chapter 12 - My Sort-of-But-Not-Really First Date (Part 1)

Waking up the next morning was unpleasant, to say the least. At first, everything was normal. I had barely fluttered out of consciousness and was still all warm and fuzzy inside. I would've turned over and fallen back to sleep if it hadn't been for the low, rumbling ribbit that reverberated through the air alarmingly close to my ear.

Needless to say, I screamed pretty loud. Surely the neighbors had heard and were rushing to call 911 as I flung the bed sheets aside, still screaming at the top of my lungs. Under the sheets of my bed was infested, and I do mean infested, with at least two dozen frogs. They were all just sitting there, doing whatever frogs do with their lives. Croaking, hopping, peeing, breathing, and who knows what other nasty things.

My heart had yet to stop pounding furiously against my ribcage when none other than Grayson Logan fell out of my closet, landing on the ground. He was laughing so hard no noise was coming out of his mouth; all he could do was roll around and clap like a retarded seal.

"Grayson," I shrieked, placing a hand over my chest. Generally, I wouldn't have been afraid or even startled by frogs. But they were not, under any circumstances, supposed to wake up with me in the morning. "Voy a matarte!" The Spanish switch had flipped, s**t was about to hit the ceiling.

Grayson seemed to sense this and sobered up slightly. "Come on, Ginny, you know I don't speak Spanish."

"Usted es un idiota, yo te detestan! Ir a morir en un agujero!" I exclaimed, gripping fistfuls of my hair. Literally, I was seconds away from giving him a nice, firm kick to the balls. It wasn't like he didn't deserve it.

Suddenly, he sat up, seriousness crossing his face. "Okay, I'm sorry. It was a joke, a prank. It won't happen again, I promise." He thought that was going to be enough?! Oh hell no! I glared at him with all the strength I could muster, meanwhile trying not to flip out about the frogs that were starting to migrate off of my bed. When I was about to start yelling in Spanish again, his eyes got wide and he stuck out his bottom lip. "Please?"

Damn the stupid puppy dog face! Damn Grayson Logan to hell! My stomach started to tie into stupid little knots all of its own accord, without my consent. And suddenly, it was hard to be mad anymore. "Fine," I huffed, narrowing my eyebrows. "But if these things aren't out of this house by the time I finish showering, or I will personally chop your balls off."

He smirked, "Sure you don't need help in the shower instead?" His eyebrows danced suggestively as I scoffed, turning my back on him.

"You wish," I chuckled before closing the bathroom doors, cutting off all sounds of his cheery laughter. Sighing, I leaned against the door. Was that considered flirting? Because my cheeks were definitely tinted a nice shade of red.

After showing, and then scrubbing everything down again, I finally got out of the shower. Because of the frogs, I still felt grungy, but there wasn't anything I could do to fix that. All sounds of Grayson had long since vanished, so I figured he had gone to find some other poor, innocent girl to torture. I'll admit, a part of me was slightly disappointed, but the other half was happy just to have a day to myself.

I put on light makeup and decided on a light pink sundress that was technically dirty. I had only worn it for a few hours, but it had been stuffed down to the bottom of my laundry basket. Admittedly, it was a little gross, but I was too lazy to try and find something else. My day would probably consist of watching movies alone, anyway, because Leah had yet to call me back.

When I emerged from the bathroom, hair still damp, I was surprised to see Grayson lounging quietly on my freshly made bed. His hands were draped casually behind his head, a lazy smile spread across his face. "You're still here?" I asked with a c**k of my eyebrow.

"Naturally," He responded, swooping to his feet in one motion. "I didn't get what I came for."

Oh, god. Was this more flirting? My brain was not cut out for it.

"And what was that?" I asked, trying to play coy. In reality, it probably looked like I was constipated. I had little to no experience with boys, especially with boys as experienced as Grayson Logan. Not to call him a man w***e, but he had had his share of girlfriends.

He shook his head, "Nope, can't tell you what it is. You're coming with me." It wasn't so much a request as it was a demand, and yet I couldn't help but give him a cautious look. True, he hadn't given me a choice, but there was a certain level of rebellion that I felt towards Grayson for obvious reasons.

I jutted out my hip, placing one hand on top of it. "And what if I don't want to come?" I questioned as if daring him to give me a logical answer. We both knew there wasn't one.

He took a step back, raising his hands in surrender. "Oh snap, sass level one thousand." I had been about to respond with a witty retort that would just roll straight off my tongue, but he quickly cut me off by stalking towards me. Because of his stupid long legs, he was inches from me in no time. "But you should know better than to sass me, little girl." And with that, he grabbed me around the waist and tossed me over his shoulder.

At first, I wasn't exactly sure what was going on. I knew that the world was spinning, and suddenly the world was upside down. But it took me a few moments to process that Grayson actually had me over his shoulder with only one hand, placed firmly on my butt, to keep me in place. Not only was I not comfortable with the hand position, but I was wearing a dress. No explanation needed.

"Grayson, if you don't put me down this instant I'll-"

"What did I say about being sassy?" He cut me off teasingly, "I mean, it's sexy and all, but still." The world was passing by me in a blur. The stairs were gone, the hallway was disappearing, and the front door was opening. I gave up and just excepted the fact that Grayson was going to get all up close and personal with my ass and polka dot underwear.

He carried me all the way over to his house, dropped me into the passenger's seat of his silver Mustang convertible, and smirked. "There, that wasn't so bad. Was it?" Honestly, my brain was still swirling from being help upside down. In what world does one enjoy that?! I gave him a stern look to convey my emotions. "Don't be such a grouch."

"Don't be such a d**k," I muttered, crossing my arms. Clearly, there was no point in exiting the car, he would just chase me again. I could have called for Wes, but he was undoubtedly still asleep upstairs, dead to the world. The only choice left to me was to go along with Grayson's little adventure.

"I can hear you," Even though I knew perfectly well that he could hear, and I meant it to be that way, Grayson felt the need to remind me. He shot me an amused look before starting up the car. It roared to life, shaking violently.

It occurred to me that this was the first time I had been in Grayson's car. Actually, it was the first time he had driven me anywhere. I had prepared myself for a horrifying near-death experience because that's just the type of driver I expected him to be. But, much to my surprise, he pulled out of the driveway, and we headed down the road only two miles an hour over the speed limit.

Grayson glanced over at me, "I can't tell if you're scared or about to throw up," He joked, chuckling nervously. I then realized that my hands were gripped tightly to the leather seats, my knuckles turning white.

"Neither," I finally said, taking a deep breath, "Just surprised that you're such a good driver."

"What?!" He feigned hurt, looking appalled, "Your miniscule faith in me is offensive." We were driving down one of the biggest streets in our city at a leisurely pace, heading towards the highway. I didn't know where we were going, but it looked almost as if we were heading out of town.

"Well, you haven't exactly given me any reason to trust you." I pointed out, sounding much more bitter than I had intended to. The second the words came out of my mouth I felt guilt press down on my heart. Grayson looked at me sadly before quickly snapping his eyes back to the road.

"I'm really sorry." He finally whispered, clenching the steering wheel tightly. The atmosphere was suddenly suffocating; so thick I could've cut it with a butter knife. Fidgeting in my seat uncomfortably, I focused on the other cars that were rushing by. Anything was better than looking at him. "Really, Imogen. I truly am sorry for all the times I've hurt you."

"It's fine," I muttered, rubbing the back of my neck uncomfortably. Sure, I had imagined the day when Grayson Logan would apologize to me, but I had never expected it to actually happen. Now that it was here, I felt awkward and severely uncomfortable.

"No, it's not," He growled, obviously angry at himself. I was shocked. "I was a d**k to you, and I'll probably spend the rest of my life regretting it."

I didn't know how to respond, so I just continued looking out the side of the car, letting the sound of rushing wind engulf us. It was such a serious moment that anything I could've thought up to say seemed trifle and inappropriate. After a while, Grayson seemed to give up hope that I would say anything and turned up the radio, blasting some sort of rock much, that I had never heard before, through the speakers.

As I had expected, we got on the highway. He drove out of town for about twenty minutes, taking the small, barely marked exit for a little town called Green Grove. I had heard of it before, but it was so tiny that I had never actually been to it. There was no mall or movie theater, so what reason would I have had for visiting the little town?

The itching inside of me to know where we were going was growing by the second. For each small, wooden house that we passed, I grew more and more curious. The warn down cement roads turned into gravel, and within a minute we were passing through Green Grove, into the countryside. It was beautiful, I'll say that, but I had no clue where we're going.

Lush, green fields stretched on for miles, as far as the eye could see, with bright, yellow dandelion patches dotted here and there. The beautiful, clear blue sky melted into the tree scattered horizon seamlessly. The air was cool and crisp, fanning against my face gently. This was one of the most breathtaking places I had been in my life - granted there had not been many. Who would've through Grayson Logan would know about places such as this?

Finally, when we started to pull into a tiny forest, and the road was getting smaller by the second, I couldn't stand it any longer. "Where are we going?" I asked, looking at Grayson for the first time in a while. He had calmed down a lot but still looked a bit annoyed.

At my question, he smirked, "You'll see." Was the only reply I got.

"Grayson, just tell me," I pouted, even though I knew it would do no good. He shook his head, smiling all the while. The road was still getting smaller, the trees were still inching dangerously towards the car. Not that it was any of my business, but I knew that the Logan's had paid a lot of money for this car; they would've been pissed if Grayson had scratched it.

Seconds before the car was scratched beyond recognition, we emerged from the thickening woods. The forest parted, opening up to a river bank. The grass was lush with pink and purple flowers sprouting from the ground. The small, trickling river rushed by quietly, creating a soothing sound as it ran over the river stones. It was beautiful.

"What is this place?" I breathed, stunned. This was the last place I had expected Grayson to bring me. In all honesty, I had expected this to be part two of that morning's frog prank. Grayson stepped out of the car, reached into the back seat, and pulled out a wooden picnic basket.

"This is my apology for this morning," He said, grinning sheepishly at me. "And step one in proving to you that I'm not the jackass you think I am."

Oh, sweet Jesus.

Was my heart supposed to be beating furiously?

I couldn't help but smile as I trailed slowly behind him. This was one of the nicest things anyone had ever done for me, and I wasn't going to let it be tainted by the fear of a trick. For some reason beyond me, I trusted him not to push me into the stream. Or worse.

We sat down on the grass by the water, and Grayson promptly started unpacking the picnic basket. There was a big bowl of strawberries - my favorite fruit - two ham and cheese sandwiches, complete with chunks of tomato and avocado - also one of my favorites foods.

"How did you know?" I asked, popping a strawberry into my mouth. "About my favorite foods, I mean."

He looked up from his sandwich, "I pay more attention to you than you think." It was a simple statement, not meant to intimidate me, but suddenly I felt very small. My cheeks started to burn as I remembered what Wesley said; 'Grayson's had a crush on you forever. That's why he tortures you, can't you see it?'

Coughing awkwardly, I asked, "So anyway, what are your plans for college next year?" I had been to his high school graduation, but I had never bothered to ask what he was planning to do after that. In fact, I had never asked what Grayson wanted to do with his life. Most of my childhood I had seen him every day, and yet I didn't even know what his favorite color was. How sad was that?

"I'm not sure yet," He admitted, shrugging his shoulders. "I think I'm going to take a year off to just...Find myself, if that makes sense."

I nodded, "It does. My mom's been pushing me to be a surgeon ever since I was born, but I'm not really sure if that's what I want to do." The words were flowing from my mouth naturally, even though my brain had not given my tongue permission to speak them. I hadn't told anyone about my doubts about becoming a doctor; hell, I had hardly admitted it to myself.

"Really?" He was surprised, "You've always wanted to be a doctor like your mom."

"I know," I sighed, running a hand through my hair. It was dry now, and I suddenly realized it was a ratty mess from the ride over. Great, I looked like I had been mauled by a bear. "But lately I've been rethinking it. What if I just want to be a surgeon because that's what my mom's been telling me forever, you know?"

"Yeah, I get it. My dad wants me to become some sort of fancy lawyer, but that's just not my thing." He said, rolling his eyes. "It's so annoying when parents think they can control our future."

"Right?!" I exclaimed exuberantly. I wouldn't say my mother tried to control my future necessarily, but she would probably disown me if I didn't become a surgeon. "Like, it's my life, I can do what I want!" Grayson chuckled, shaking his head. There was a real smile on his face, and it struck me for the first time just how handsome he really was. He wasn't being mean or trying to torture me; he was being genuine and actually trying to be my friend. It was refreshing.

When he was done laughing, he sighed, "This is nice with you."

"What is?" I asked, leaning back to my elbows on the grass. I had finished eating, and so had he.

"This," He motioned between us, "Just talking."

"Without frogs, you mean," I joked, throwing in a laugh to let him know I wasn't mad.

He rolled his eyes, "Without spiders, too." That made both of us laugh, throwing our heads back. The breeze was so nice, just cool enough for the humid air not to be hot. It was perfect. Even though Grayson was there, it was perfect. For the first time ever I was hanging out with Grayson Logan willingly.

And I was enjoying it.